Lincoln, Kucinich weigh in on health bill votes

Lawmakers weigh in on the health care overhaul debate.

The Associated Press/The Washington Times: Sen. Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark., "insisted Tuesday she remained opposed to pushing a health care bill through the Senate with a simple majority vote, despite saying she wanted to see what was in the legislation." Lincoln "said those comments didn't represent a change of heart on her stance against the controversial majority-vote procedure known as 'reconciliation.' 'I don't support reconciliation. All I said was I want to see what's in it,' Lincoln told reporters outside the Senate floor. She walked quickly into a senators-only area without elaborating" (Werner, 3/9).

ABC News: "Rep. Dennis Kucinich is vowing to vote against President Obama's health care bill, and says the president can only win his vote if he reverses course and includes a 'robust' public option to compete with private insurers. On ABC's 'Top Line' today, Kucinich, D-Ohio, said he has no qualms about sticking by his long-held beliefs. He calls the current bill a 'giveaway' to insurance companies, and not 'a bill for the American people'" (Klein, 3/9).

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This article was reprinted from khn.org with permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Kaiser Health News, an editorially independent news service, is a program of the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonpartisan health care policy research organization unaffiliated with Kaiser Permanente.